So, hopefully you all who are reading my posts, got thru the first one. It was kind of long and I apologized, but before I get to my journal for fish keeping, I have to recap what lead me here in the first place. At least to my disorganized but OCD mind, I have to. Helps me keep things in perspective, and on the straight and narrow.
So, I left you last time with me deciding to stock my 5 gallon. And I didn't get a betta. As I was getting closer and closer to getting a puffer, I was also getting more and more nervous. I decided that I was going to put a Dwarf Puffer in my old betta tank. The tank was cycled, it had lots of decorations, and, I told myself, what better practice for getting a F8, than getting a Dwarf puffer (DP)? So we went to the LFS that night, and I picked out the most wiggly, happiest seeming one in the tank. We took him home, and put him in the tank, and I was talking to Denzil about a name. Jokingly, I suggested that we call him "PZ the pee wee" or PZ for short, as a joke to Denzil because at work, they call him "DZ." Eventually, the name stuck, and we (me mostly, Denzil enjoys him, but I get stupid with all my animals, aquatic or otherwise) were in love with him
After doing more reading on puffers, I noticed that PZ was super skinny, and not puffer looking at all. After asking around on the forum, I was advised to treat for internal parasites (IPs). Boy, that was a PITA (if you don't know that acronym, go google it, I won't spell it out). I didn't have the funds to buy Prazipro, a really expensive, but great treatment for IPs in puffers. So, I had to go out and be on the hunt for Jungle Tank buddies, the parasite clear. Now, instead of treating the water (like you do with Prazipro) you have to treat the food with the medications, and get it into the puffer. This is a royal PITA, as DPs are notoriously picky about their food (so I found out in the process and later after asking around on the forum for advice). AND I didn't mention this before, but I was also treating for ICH on PZ. This whole process was very stressful, but a great learning experience. After about 2 weeks or so (I can't remember the exact length of time now, I just know that if felt like YEARS), I was finally done treating for both Ich and IPs, and finally, PZ started to fill out and look like a puffer. After (s)he filled out and became more active, I was learning more about puffers. This is where he becomes a she. I believe, and I am not sure, as no one has confirmed this on the forum as of yet, PZ is a girl because of the markings. She doesn't have eye wrinkles, or stripes; she has spots.
--New tank--
So, after PZ is healthy, I am at Petco looking at fish stuff, and I noticed that they are having a sale on fish tanks (ft). It's $1 per gallon. Therefore a 10 gallon ft is only $10. After discussing it with Denzil, he said that I could get it to put PZ in it. Only thing I don't have is a nice filter, but I do have an old one, one that came with the 20 gallon tank (it was a nice filter, but it didn't have much in the way for bio media, but it's a perfect back up). So I set up the 10 gallon with the gravel, the plants,decorations and the water from the 5 gallon, and I transferred PZ over. Boy, she really enjoyed the extra space. It was also easier keeping the tank clean. It wasn't so small and the waste didn't build up as fast. So I had this set up for a couple of weeks, until I finally had some money saved up to buy fish tank decorations, and a new filter for PZ's tank (Amazon is a wonderful thing). So I buy the decorations for the 20 gallon, and some extra for the 10 gallon, and a new filter for PZ. Long story short, when swapping the filters on the 10 gallon, I didn't put enough of the biomedia over to the new filter (or what was supposed to be the biomedia in the old didn't have much of the bacteria), so PZ's tank started to cycle again..../facepalm (for those of you who play WoW, you should understand the /action.) So for the time being, I moved PZ into the 20 gallon and I am currently waiting for PZ's tank to recycle.
Today, on 10/13/2011 I tested the water, and I had excellent water parameters and I looked at the dreaded cleaning task before me. On TPF, the Queen Bee, Pufferpunk, suggested that I use 20% bleach and let me decorations and what not sit in the mixture overnight. Being relatively new, I worry about using any kinds of harsh chemicals around my fish. From what little I knew when I was a kid, that was a huge no-no, so it goes against the grain. Having said this, let me talk a minute about these people I have found on TPF.
The Puffer Fourm:
In my last sentence, in no way, shape or form was I not agreeing with the advice Pufferpunk gave. She has been keeping fish, puffers in particular, for many many years. I value her advice and everyone else's advice on there. I personally just don't feel comfortable around bleach, fish stuff or no fish stuff. Also, if I had bleach, I would have probably used it, once I looked in to it a bit more. However, I had a big enough pot, and water is always available, so I boiled instead. Anyways, back on topic. TPF has been a blessing. In no way can I describe the value it has proven to be a member of this forum. I have learned more about fish/puffer keeping in the last 3 months, than I have learned in my entire life, and all the information has been invaluable. Two members that I feel like I should mention is Xrayjeeper and sevenyearnight. These two members, along with everyone else have been super nice and helpful. I can mention so many others, J-P, Pufftastic, RTR, xvCody, Flutter, Reaperpilot and Bertie83 just to name a few off the top of my head. These people on this forum know what they are talking about, and are very good fish keepers. I wouldn't have an empty 60 gallon fish tank just waiting for a GSP without them. They have given me the disease MTS or multi tank syndrome. (I think that's what they call it, LOL). I went from having one 5 gallon fish tank, to currently, 4 tanks all together (thanks Xray). First I only wanted an F8, but then Freddy passed, so I got PZ. Then I just had to have a GSP (you would understand if you saw their unbelievably cute, adorable faces). Thank God Denzil loves the look the beautifully put together fish tanks add to our little cozy home.
With that little schpeal said, I finally, and I might add, in a fit of anger, attacked the algae in PZ's tank with a vengeance today. I scrubbed everything, and dipped it in boiling water instead of bleach. I hope that this works. We will see. Now I just have to catch tiny little PZ and put her in her home, once the water warms up.
My fit of anger mentioned above was due to circumstances in my life that was out of my hands. Unfortunately, when you love someone very much and care for their well being, it's very distressing to see them make the wrong decisions. However, I know that if she never makes the wrong decisions and doesn't learn for herself, she will keep on doing the same stupid mistake over and over again. I just wish she had learned the first time. I was willing to help out the first time, but due to tough love, she's on her own the second time. I can't uproot my life to go through drama again. I have enough drama of my own to keep up with. I don't need to add someone else's drama to my plate as well.
So PZ's water parameters are damn near perfect, so now I need to wait for the temp to stabilize and move her over. In the mean time, I have contacted Pufftastic to see about getting Luau shipped to me so I can introduce him into his tank which is cycled, warm and ready for him. I am really excited, and I feel good that she asked me if I wanted to adopt him since his tank mate is being a bit of a booger. It made me feel good about my puffer keeping skills, at least it is making me more confident.
Aside from that, I finally got my two dumb ghost shrimp out of my snail tank. I had a healthy snail population growing and now all I have are empty snail shells =( I need to restock and do a water change on the snail tank. Hopefully, it will kick start them in to breeding again. =)
Now that I have caught up on the history with my fish keeping experience, hopefully my blogs will be shorter. I am sure I can find stuff to write about however. I pushed these two out super fast so I can start my fish journal. Hope you enjoyed reading my experiences, maybe it will help others. Who knows. Until next time all, have a good one!
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